Suicide bomber in northern Sri Lanka kills 27

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Sri Lanka's military says a suicide bomber has killed 27 people. Photo: EiTB

Sri Lanka's military says a suicide bomber has killed 27 people, including a former army officer, in a blast at an opposition party office in northern Sri Lanka. Military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara says retired Maj. Gen. Janaka Perera and his wife were among the 27 dead, and that at least 69 more were wounded in the attack Monday at the United National Party office in Anuradhapura town.

Later reports say at least 80 more were wounded in the bomb attack, military spokesman Brig. Udaya Nanayakkara said. The blast came as government troops and Tamil Tiger fighters battled for control of the rebels' administrative capital in the northern town of Kilinochchi.

The suicide bomber was a Tamil Tiger rebel who apparently targeted Perera because of his successes against the separatist cause during his years in the military, Nanayakkara said. The attack occurred at about 8:45 a.m. Monday as officials from the United National Party gathered to open a new office.

Perera led many successful campaigns against the Tamil rebels and halted a major rebel advance in 2000 in the Jaffna peninsula, the cultural heartland of the country's minority Tamils.

The UNP blamed the government for ignoring repeated requests for stronger security for Perera. Nanayakkara said that hours earlier a roadside bomb killed two civilians in a village near Anuradhapura.